to move up and down
Things you did not really expect to see on Saturday: Singer Justin Bieber and Floyd Mayweather Jr. pose after he defeated Miguel Cotto by unanimous decision at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Because, well, yeah. Photo: Al Bello/Getty Images
Meet Mary Spencer: Canada’s best shot at Olympic gold in women’s boxing. But it wasn’t easy for her to get here:
It was the best when it rained, when the sewers backed up and the water in the parking lot crept high on her boots, almost to her knees. Those were the best days, because those were the days Mary Spencer knew she would make the money to fund her dream.
She wanted a new pair of shoes, ones without gaping holes near the toes like the ones she had to wear every day. There were other uses for the money, too. It cost $3 in bus fare to get to basketball practice. And when the funds were especially tight at home, she needed to buy milk for her cereal. But she dreamed about the shoes, and so she prayed for rain.
Around the time she turned 11, a local grocery store began charging a 25-cent deposit for use of its carts. Customers inserted a quarter into a mechanism near the handle to release the cart. Only a few extra steps were needed to retrieve the quarter, but those were steps nobody wanted to take in a downpour. At least, nobody except Spencer, who learned the value in taking the steps others avoided.
In two months, she had her new shoes.
They cost $120, or 480 safely returned grocery carts.Click through to read Sean Fitz-Gerald’s full story on her journey to the top. Photo: Dax Melmer for National Post
No one said there would be blood: Steve Murray at the Justin Trudeau boxing match
As the shocking upset went down, the Post’s Steve Murray was in the audience, taking in his first-ever boxing match and producing a record of the proceedings so scrupulous you can almost taste the sweat and blood.
Related:
Brazeau wants rematch after being TKO’d by Trudeau in charity boxing bout
Photo gallery: Underdog Trudeau comes out victorious against Brazeau
Thrilla on the Hilla
The Post’s Steve Murray is posting updates about the Justin Trudeau vs. Patrick Brazeau Fight For The Cure throughout the night.
Photo: Steve Muray, taking it on the chin from Senator Patrick Brazeau.
Political heavyweights Justin Trudeau and Patrick Brazeau throw verbal jabs at charity weigh-in
The weeks of trash-talking and training will come to an end when Liberal MP Justin Trudeau and Conservative Senator Patrick Brazeau meet in the ring this Saturday.
The two politicians-turned-pugilists are taking part in a charity boxing match — Fight for the Cure 2012, an annual fundraising initiative for the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation — and will fight their way through three two-minute rounds.
“I’ve never hid the fact that I wouldn’t mind to put the hurt on Justin — it’s a boxing match, it’s not aerobics class,” Brazeau said at the weigh-in. (Photos: Chris Wattie/Reuters)
Vitali Klitschko gets slapped in the face by British boxer Dereck Chisora after their official weigh-in.
Rivals Justin Trudeau and Senator Patrick Brazeau facing off in charity boxing bout
Liberal MP Justin Trudeau and Conservative Senator Patrick Brazeau have sparred on Twitter, but on March 31, the two will fight for real in the ring.
The boxing match is part of Fight for the Cure, an annual gala featuring matches between “white-collar” Ottawans such as CTV anchor Terry Marcotte and lobbyist Walter Robinson, who fought last year. All proceeds go toward increasing “survivorship” among cancer patients in the Ottawa region.
Mr. Trudeau received training as a boxer in his youth, although he has never employed his skills in the ring. “He really wanted to see if he could compete properly,” said Rob Imbeault, one of the event organizers.
A fighter to the end
Smokin’ Joe Frazier died Monday night after a brief battle with liver cancer at the age of 67. Frazier, right, will forever be linked to Muhammad Ali, but no one in boxing would ever dream of anointing Ali as The Greatest unless he, too, was linked to Smokin’ Joe. They fought three times, twice in the heart of New York City and once in the morning in a steamy arena in the Philippines. They went 41 rounds together, with neither giving an inch and both giving it their all. (Postmedia file photo)
Photos of the day, March 13, 2011
Lenny Zappavigna of Australia (R) takes a hit from Miguel Vazquez of Mexico during their IBF lightweight title fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada March 12, 2011. (REUTERS/Steve Marcus)
